TheSamba.com :: View topic - twice in a lifetime- Window regulator

Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:40 pm

yesterday i got the dreaded window grinding sound while at the the CVS drive through no less, F'n great! I had just replaced the regulators brand new from Van Cafe in March 2008. I figured I am good for another 20 years. Not to be. Got the regulator out and was able to screw down the the plastic cable guide. opened up the case and the cable was all kinked up. Question: does anyone know a good way to re wind the cable & get the kinks out? I have tried it 4 times now & it keeps binding up when I test it. I called v-cafe they said if you figure it out, let us know. Any tricks are appreciated.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 7:51 pm

I have done this once before and when I got it to work I nearly passed out from shock.

My best advice is to have a good regulator next to the one you are working on to see how it works. The way it works is counter intuitive and I doubt you will figure it out by trial and error. It is the Rubik's Cube of the Vanagon world. :shock:

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:06 pm

I have 2 pair of duckbill pliers that I use to straighten out kinked cables but yours doesn't look bad. Remember that the cable spools onto the drum in one direction and exits the opposite direction. The cable windings need to be tight on the drum and tight to each other. I have never had one go south on me without the black corner piece breaking off at the plastic rivet. Once the plastic rivet is replaced with a real rivet it works fine. I have fixed several units that are still working now. I also lube the crap outta the worm gear assembly. Good luck.

duckbill pliers- http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00945087000P?keyword=duckbill+pliers

Thu Dec 31, 2009 9:06 pm

My driver's side power window failed earlier this week in the same way - window abruptly stopped moving up or down and made sounds of something loose inside the door when I hit the switch.

I found that the black plastic cable guide (the one on the bottom) had become dislodged from the the support bracket, so I pulled the regulator out of the door. Inspection revealed that the cable guides themselves were not broken, just no longer attached to the support bracket. I riveted one cable guide to the bracket, pulled the cable tight and clamped it to the bracket to take up the spring slack, and then proceeded to re-wind the cable back onto the grooved pulley inside the gear housing.

The cable was not too badly kinked, so with patience I was able to carefully re-wind it around the grooved pulley. This was not that easy to do since it is necessary to overcome spring tension so that the cable is pulled tight while being re-wound. I did it on my kitchen table using a couple of vise-grips to clamp the cable to the bracket. (A bench vice would have been easier, but I don't have one). The trick is to make sure the cable does not cross over itself at any point on the pulley, since the pulley operates on the cable in both directions.

I found it easier to first rivet one cable guide, re-wind the cable onto the pulley, and then under tension rivet the second cable guide. Others' approach may be different. I would have taken a picture of this, but I barely had enough hands as it was.

I used rivets that fit perfectly: 5/32" diameter x 1/4"-1/8" grip range. Rivet goes in from the cable guide side (this might be an obvious point). It was necessary to clamp the guide to the bracket while doing the actual riveting since the spring tension on the cable wants to pull these pieces apart.

After riveting the cable guides and re-winding the cable, I used a screwdriver in the "D" slot of the gear drive to manually move the window lift bracket in both directions through its entire travel to verify it would move smoothly without binding. I also greased the cable.

One tip for re-installation back into the door: Make sure the window lift bracket is NOT at the top of its travel (i.e. window closed position), as it will interfere with the door internals trying to get it into position. You can apply power temporarily to move the bracket down a couple of inches if it's at the top of its travel.

Re-installation was straightforward, and the window seems to work fine now. My passenger-side window is operating very slowly, but that has an aftermarket window motor/regulator - at some point I will probably try to source a used OEM motor/regulator for that side.

Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:41 am

I agree with all written above,except that I prefer to bolt it together over a rivet. It is a high stress area and the rivet will " work" over time where a bolt with Loctite is good forever. I have fixed more than my share of these with a bolt and have had no failures.

My .02

Stacy

Mon May 23, 2011 8:11 am

i just had my bubble burst this weekend with rewinding this cable, ive been putting off this fix for a while my motor was burnt, replaced it my white cable guide had popped off the factory rivet which bound up the cable and my guess jammed the motor, spent all \ saturday wrestling with this for the first time... i had it all set reg went up /down while out on a drill , wrestled it back thru door get it installed and lined up it goes down once up once the i hear the cables unwinding.....i couldnt sleep last nite thinking of how i can fix this bad boy any hints i had my cable lined up in each groove none over lapping and tight, what i am thinking is that each cable end must be would evenly and tight in opposite directions? im thinking counter clockwise? the wheel has one cable mounted to top other to bottom, im thinking these must be wound in opposite directions evenly ,so neither runs out of cable when windows operate, am i milking a dead cow here? initially i had only wound the cable from one end, not both ends, any insight is greatly appreciated...thanks for the write ups on how to pull, funny every write up abruptly ends at rewinding cable :shock:

Mon May 23, 2011 8:54 am

When the cables get kinked, I just make new ones.
The tool kit to do so is what is used to make bike/motorcycle throttle and manual brake cables.
Mine is a Park Tool.

Mon May 23, 2011 9:18 am

insyncro do you think the prev kinkage is whats causing it to unwind, i can make the cables ive done it for dirtbike applications before, when i wind her up does it matter which way? & can i wind just from one side or should i wind both sides ,one from top one from bottom...? i appreciate the advice

Tue May 24, 2011 2:04 pm

GBA 88West LA wrote: when i wind her up does it matter which way? & can i wind just from one side or should i wind both sides ,one from top one from bottom...? i appreciate the advice

<bump>

Can anyone help out with the above question. I am in the same boat trying to wind up my regulator cable after I rebuilt it and greased it :roll:

Wed May 25, 2011 6:18 am

ok got mine done tested out ok, heres some tips
do the job with motor attached to regulator, make sure plastic corner tensioners are intact secured, make sure you attempt to flatten any bad kinks prior. the "topwire" on spool goes clockwise,"the bottom"wire goes counterclockwise. move metal window support to half way up/down...here we go attach white spring loaded tensioner to wheel housing at 12 oclock position, wrap bottom wire first counter clockwise 2-2.5 rows up, pull her tight, this is where it gets tricky and 2nd set of hands would really help, but i did it solo, now with the white spring loaded tensioner from the 6 oclock position NOT in wheel housing start wrapping "top wire" clockwise , you will only get one easy wrap , we want to get at least one or one & half wraps, but its tight now no extra wire to do this , you will need to push the spring loaded white tensioner at 12 oclock in towards the wheel housing this will give more slack, dont let go we are shooting for the wheel housing opening at 6 oclock not the one at eight, now at this point you can also start to rotate the black spacer between motor and housing which will move the wheel towards the 6 oclock opening in order to line up the wire with 6 oclock , all this while keeping the the spring tensioner at twelve pushed in, once the wheel lines up with 6 oclock housing opening push "other spring loaded tensioner in towards housing while still pushing in from 12 oclock , slide it into 6 oclock opening and thats it, go around with a small screw driver and maker sure all cables are in grooves on wheel, you can either apply twelve volts to test or remove motore and test with drill, up / down :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: lube her up and throw it in \:D/ :vw: :2gunfire:

Tue Sep 10, 2013 1:59 pm

Hey Team Samba. Love this thread, I just fixed my window from the very fine instruction provided here as well. I have a few QQ's though on this subject.

1. It seems on of my springs on my Regulator has popped, the other one is full in tact and I reassembled and everything is working fine with the popped spring. Although, I could see another half wrap if fixed correctly. Has anyone else run into the "popped spring" scenario? If so, how did you fix it?

Sat Feb 06, 2016 7:27 am

I am busy redoing the cable for my regulator, making a replacement. Does any body know the measurements of where the ferule goes in the middle of the cable. And also how do you keep it in one place so that is does not move up an down the cable. So that the slide will travel up and down the regulator.